The most exported product in Zhoushan in January and February was refined oil. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz]

The foreign trade in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, saw a 12.6 percent year-on-year increase in the first two months of this year to 32.06 billion yuan ($4.9 billion), local media reported on March 24.

The figure includes 12.69 billion yuan of export value, which experienced the third largest increase in the province with a year-on-year increase of 59.1 percent, 9 percentage points higher than provincial average.

Zhoushan's exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) jumped 530 percent year-on-year during the same period to 3.98 billion yuan.

The most exported product in the city in January and February was refined oil. During this period, Zhoushan exported nearly 2.7 million metric tons of refined oil worth 7.39 billion yuan, year-on-year increases of 250 percent and 140 percent respectively.

Zhoushan imported 3.84 million tons of crude oil in the first two months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 46.6 percent, while its import of refined oil declined 40.6 percent year-on-year.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the city's largest source of oil imports this year with a 380 percent year-on-year increase.

In the Jan-Feb period, the foreign trade of private companies in Zhoushan surged 35.3 percent year-on-year to 20.02 billion yuan, accounting for 62.5 percent of the city's total value.

These companies' exports soared 140 percent year-on-year to 6.8 billion yuan while their imports increased 10.9 percent year-on-year to 13.22 billion yuan.